History of Mountain Rescue and RNLI at Aberdyfi

[QuentinDeakin]

For their final meeting on Monday 16th December the society's theme was The History of Mountain Rescue and the RNLI. The guest speaker was David Williams, MBE, with over fifty years distinguished service in both rescue services at Aberdyfi. Later in the meeting it emerged that our modest speaker is the second person in two centuries from that station to win a medal for his bravery during a rescue. Dealing first with lifeboat rescue, on the bi-centenary anniversary of the founding of the RNLI, David noted that the earliest station on Cardigan Bay was at Barmouth (1828) with Aberdyfi very early as well (1837). A third at Aberystwyth (1861), making three close together, was needed because of the volume of freight and fishing traffic from those ports. Sailing ships founded on south-westerlies and lifeboatmen had to row out to them. He described the steady improvement in boats, safety equipment and communications. Other notable changes have been the increasing numbers of female crew and the preponderance of holiday makers rather than fishing vessels requiring help. Questions followed, leading to anecdotes and tributes to the hard work and bravery of the Aberdyfi team, three of whom were present in the audience.

Turning to mountain rescue, David noted that the earliest tourists to challenge themselves on British mountains in the early nineteenth century came from the professional classes and relatively well equipped. There was no equivalent to the RNLI until the 1940's coming out of the Second World War, when so many pilots in training were left stranded and injured on our mountain sides. The service expanded in the 1970's and has continued to grow to meet heavy demand as more tourists take up the challenge. Maintaining confidence in their choice of leisure pursuit is important to the tourist industry and in this the rescue service has an important economic role. After taking further questions David was warmly thanked for a comprehensive and entertaining presentation. As a token of our appreciation, the society is donating fifty pounds each to Aberdyfi Life Boat and Aberdyfi Search and Rescue.